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Good Enough Is The New Perfect: Finding Happiness And Success In Modern Motherhood (2011)

by Becky Beaupre Gillespie(Favorite Author)

3.31 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0373892373 (ISBN13: 9780373892372)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Harlequin

review 1: are you tired of reading my book reviews about these work/life balance books yet? because i am tired of writing them. i really need to make a conscious effort to stop reading these kinds of books, because they're not relevant to me that impairs my enjoyment of them. this is another book that interviews a whole bunch of working moms (the lion's share of whom are successful, well-educated professionals, ie, not really your average mom off the street, which automatically limits the book's appeal & relevance) & tries to figure out what makes work/life balance work for them. the conclusion: women who are willing to be "good enough" instead of "never enough" are less likely to get burnt out & express more satisfaction in the little things. they know how to delegate & how to take... more responsibility for what's truly important. i don't think you need to be a mom, let alone a working mom, for that message to have some resonance, especially in this era of the increasing professionalization of parenthood. which kind of made the book all the more a slog for me. i summed up its thesis in one sentence, but the book drags on for over 200 pages, & it's written in a voice that perpetually confused me. maybe because the authors kept referring to themselves in third person? & because it jumped around a lot between different women with different life situations & i couldn't always keep the details straight? & because ultimately, all the details never really amounted to much more than what i have already written?a fine sentiment for a book; not my cup of tea in execution.
review 2: The cover on this book should have "NOT FOR MIDDLE CLASS WOMEN, AND JUST RUN IN THE OTHER DIRECTION IF YOU WORK BECAUSE YOU NEED TO" stamped on it.It does state clearly in the introduction that this book is not for the uneducated, those who are working and barely survivng, those who must work, and those who can't afford nanny care. (Ok, I may have ad-libbed a bit there, but you get the idea.)This is for high-earning, well-educated mothers who have options like in-home child care, flex hours, job-sharing, and other options that most of the middle class don't have access to. And not that these women's problems aren't important, but the ideas that the authors suggest as solutions simply aren't viable for the majority of working moms I know.The only thing I left with from this book was that I have to find new ways of defining success - what do I really want to spend my time doing? - and I've already been down that road and am continuing to work on that. I think I can learn more from my other mommy friends than from this book . . . less

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